Surfing the web anonymously

Question

I was reading through this list of "geek skills", and one of the items was "surf the web anonymously from home." I know you could use a proxy-server/TOR, but that's about it. What is the best, fastest, safest way to surf the web anonymously, and how much anonymity can you really achieve?

Answer 1

1. Use Tor
2. Use Firefox with Adblock and Noscript
3. Uninstall all plugins and extensions you don't need, things like Flash, Silverlight, Java, etc.
4. If a site offers a HTTPS version, use it. (HTTPS is encrypted, unlike HTTP)
5. Delete your cookies between sessions.
6. Don't give any personal information away.
7. If your ISP offers a dynamic IP address, use it. Release and renew your IP between sessions.
8. Enable Firefox's private browsing feature.
9. Install the RefControl addon and set it to block HTTP referrers.
10. Use the User Agent Switcher to send a blank user agent, or spoof a completely different browser. (For example, if you're running Firefox on Vista, send IE7 on XP.)

Answer 2

I would imagine you mean not keeping your information from being stored on your computer, but being stored on everyone elses. For the former, just use private browsing mode, which is now in every major browser.

For the latter, there are a few things you can do.

1. Encrypt your connection
2. When asked to be "remembered" by sites, don't
3. Use proxies
4. Don't have a Facebook/Twitter/whatever

Other than that, I do not know.

Answer 3

Installing the Tor Bundle includes the TorButton Firefox extension, which won't allow plugins like Flash - these plugins could leak your identity, even when using Tor. For example, a Flash app could determine the local IP and send that information back to the server, so even if it's being sent over Tor, you're still hosed. So use Tor, Tor is good, but don't use any unsafe plugins.

To be certain that browsing history isn't saved on a hard disk, you can boot from a Linux Live CD and run Tor from there.

Answer 4

Not a direct answer to your question, but: when using Flash, then read some details on How to automatically remove Flash history/privacy trail? Or stop Flash from storing it?...

Answer 5

http://anonymizer.com/

Answer 6

I recently tested tor and decided it the performance was abysmal.

You want to be anonymous with regards to what? This is just like security threat analysis. Are you trying to avoid the attention of the sysadmin, the government or future employers and neighbors?

The government wins unless you can move your interent connection across legal borders, good if you are a political dissident, bad if you're an ordinary criminal or tax dodger. Companies like Anonymizer probably would turn over their records (if any) if the government forced them to.

People trying to defeat TOS and the sysadmins are probably trolls and spammers-- I hope the sysadmins win the anonymity war on that front.

Not providing any correlating evidence will keep you private from future employers and neighbors--e.g. don't post your photo, real name, significant clues, etc. To do that, you don't even need to have a proxy because wordpress.com isn't going to forward your blog posts to your neighbor or your boss.

You could be using Tor, but as soon as you mention a few of your friends names or accidentally sign your real name just once, you've lost your anonymity.

Answer 7

There is no real way to be completely anonymous on the internet.

You can use Tor, change your IP all the time, delete all data left behind, but given enough time, it can always be traced back to you. So yes, for simply hiding one or 2 sites you visit, a proxy and all these other good idea work fine.

But if your not supposed to be doing it, legal reasons or whatnot, just remember, they can always fun you given enough time and enough subpoenas will always find you.

Answer 8

Using a virtual machine could help out; though it doesn't really hide your ISP, it just produces another one... Could be something you could try out though.

Answer 9

Different anonymity services exist for what type of anonymity you are looking to achieve.

Want to change your IP?

• Use Proxies and Tor
• Free Public internet hotspots

Want to surf on a machine without leaving a trace?

• Use the measures that MiffTheFox mentioned

Also something that has not been mentioned yet is VPN services. These usually cost $$$ and money can always leave a trail back to you depending on how you spend it. It all depends on how much you trust your VPN provider.

There are some other ways of getting anonymity but these cross the lines of what most countries consider to be illegal.

Answer 10

I'll add Privoxy to the list.

Privoxy is a non-caching web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for enhancing privacy, modifying web page data and HTTP headers, controlling access, and removing ads and other obnoxious Internet junk. Privoxy has a flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs and tastes. It has application for both stand-alone systems and multi-user networks.

Answer 11

If you're talking about not identifying yourself, your IP address and browser, etc, to websites, then Proxify may be of use.

Answer 12

You can use TOR + your internet provider proxy + web proxies. You can also try freenet but its more like a private network.

Answer 13

Using Google Chrome Incognito mode.